Did you eat your Cheerios this morning? You may have just inadvertently taken an unapproved drug. Or so says the FDA, who has just sent a warning letter to General Mills, the maker of the cereal:
In a warning letter sent to the chairman of General Mills (maker of the beloved breakfast classic) and posted on the agency's website, the FDA says:
"Based on claims made on your product's label, we have determined that your Cheerios Toasted Whole Grain Oat Cereal is promoted for conditions that cause it to be a drug because the product is intended for use in the prevention, mitigation, and treatment of disease."
The agency takes special issue with these claims:
* "you can Lower Your Cholesterol 4% in 6 weeks."
* "Did you know that in just 6 weeks Cheerios can reduce bad cholesterol by an average of 4 percent? Cheerios is ... clinically proven to lower cholesterol. A clinical study showed that eating two 1 1/2 cup servings daily of Cheerios cereal reduced bad cholesterol when eaten as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol."
F*ck the CIA
F*ck the FBI
I'm living in the motherf*cking USA.
-Steve Earle
Everyone who writes ad copy should be locked in a room naked, covered in Wesson oil, and armed with butcher knives. The survivors are fed to Oprah Winfrey.
Look to your right on this page if you need another example of the horror and lies...
I'll just go to bed now, and sleep through the s#*t storm.
If the FDA really feels it doesn't have enough work, they'll have their hands full with every food product making any claims about how healthy it is. Are low-fat foods intended to treat obesity? Are sugar-free foods intended to help with diabetes?
Please stop wasting taxpayer dollars on my cereal. As long as they are not lying, let them sell it free from interference.
To be fair, eating lots of things "part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol" could lower bad cholesterol.
On a different note, I would probably read a "Horror-and-lies-orama." ;)
In the UK there's a brand of tea called PG Tips which originally stood for Pre-Gestive (or somesuch), intended to allude to a baneficial effect on your digestion. That was a minor player in what was otherwise a huge see of competing claims - few of which were verifiable by consumers.
While the term "misbranded drug" is a bit harsh on the FDA's part, I'm sure they only said it to give General Mills incentive to change some of claims they make on their website and where and how they place it on their boxes. Apparently, General Mills claimed that it could help prevent some cancers without any proof or authorization, and omitted important parts out of the heart-healthy statement.
The media likes to spin stories in the direction of sensationalism, so you might want to do some research of your own before starting a sh*tstorm; otherwise, you're only playing into their hands.
WHAT??!!
Sadly, she's one of the very few legit people out there with 40 years of intense research and 6 collaborated books under her belt.
(Still, not my sort of thing. I like established-well known medicine myself.)
I'm suprised it's taken the FDA this long, TBH.